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The family are from Homs in western Syria and had been living in a camp for several years, but their arrival was brought forward as the mother is seven months pregnant.

Mr Porter said all of the families to be resettled were being heavily scrutinised.

"I'm absolutely confident that these refugees, this family, the others in the 12,000 additional intake, those that have arrived previously, are given a very thorough level of interrogation and scrutiny, and had their circumstances well and truly checked," he said.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the checks were as exhaustive as they could be.

"These are people who are hand-picked by Australian authorities in the Middle East," she told the Seven Network.

"We are focusing on people who have been persecuted in Syria and Iraq, people who are fleeing from terrorism, from persecution. Our screening and testing is very intense."

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said Australia's security landscape was different to Europe, where people had been pouring over borders, some on false documents.

"It's a different scenario ... we don't have land borders," Mr Dutton told 2GB Radio on Tuesday.

"We do all of the checks offshore before people get here, and we discard many applications."

West Australian Premier Colin Barnett says the Syrian family will be welcomed into the community and get the help they need to settle into a new life.